Stupid things people have said to me: “So… you want to be a trader… just as well, you have got a nice husband to support you.” – My Dad over Sunday lunch.
“Option trading… that will never work” – My Uncle
Then, once my book on options was released “It’s great you wrote a book about options. I always believed in you.” – The same Uncle
“If you and your husband are having trouble affording a house, I could loan you the deposit” – My brother-in-law who didn’t know that we had chosen to rent to build up our trading equity.
“You’re a woman, you’ll never make it as a trader. It’s an old-boys club.” – Richard Pratt (Yes, the Richard Pratt).
“You’ll never make a full-time income out of trading.” – My previous accountant (who I dumped after I made more per year out of the markets than I guessed he was making as a salary).
“Trading – That’s like gambling” – more people over the past 26 years than I can remember
“I wish you’d grow some breasts to give me something to look at in your videos other than your huge clown mouth” – An articulate, succinct reader of my free monthly www.tradinggame.com.au newsletter.
Sometimes, if I let a civilian know I’m a trader, they say: “Oh. A trader” – where the description sticks in their throat like congealed snot.
Saying ‘trader’ as if they’ve described something revolting, like seeing maggots emerge from a steak they were intending to barbeque.
No wonder my business partner, Chris Tate, describes himself as a ‘rodeo clown’ to people who aren’t in the know.
Ayn Rand had a label for people like us. She called us ‘The Producers’ – ironically resented and disliked by the majority.
As a society, we take great care not to offend every other minority – like members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and 3-eyed mutant alien worshipers – yet, it’s still fashionable to proverbially swing a punch at a Producer. So, if someone has given you some lip, take it as evidence that you’re doing the right thing.
People desperately hoping their superannuation will give them double-digit returns, and whose financial futures rest in the hands of fund managers who don’t give a hoot about them… those people still look down their noses at me.
This is the key reason why I resist normal socialising, with meaningless neighbourhood get-togethers, or school functions that are excuses for parental piss-ups. Unless I lie, or somehow throw out a red-herring about who I am and what I am… I know where the conversation will end up.
Am I super-sensitive about this? Perhaps… but I don’t think so….
Louise Bedford (www.tradinggame.com.au) is a full-time private trader and author of several best-selling books including –The Secret of Candlestick Charting, Charting Secrets and Trading Secrets. To pick up her free trading plan template, register on her website and she’ll send it to you straight away.
